A Few Tips Before You Start!
Learning to row as a novice is some of the best fun you can have at a rowing club, because it tends to turn into a very tight-knit and friendly group. At first it may seem daunting if you don’t know anyone else, and there are a lot of “rowing-specific” terms and lingo that the coaches might use which you may not understand at first. However within a few weeks you will all start to get to know your fellow rowers - and coaches - a lot better, and as the season progresses you’ll start using rowing slang like a seasoned campaigner!
Your first few sessions may seem extremely frustrating, because of the steep learning curve required to get the hang of the technique and get a boat moving. There are literally tens of different terms, phrases and commands that you need to learn in order to follow the coaching instructions accurately, so it will initially sound like the coaches are speaking a foreign language. These will gradually assimilate into your vocabulary though, so be patient. You may see other rowers out on the water breezing along, going twice as fast as you... and that's just in their warm-up! Don't forget that they have been rowing for many more years than you and are now reaping the rewards of their persistence... if you stick with it, you will soon be able to row as seemingly effortlessly as they are! In fact, in your first season of rowing you will probably have the biggest relative gains in your rowing career - the learning curve is somewhat of a logarithmic curve, and as you row for longer your relative gains in speed will become smaller and smaller as you tweak your stroke closer to perfection and build your fitness towards your personal limits.
Many people are apprehensive about starting rowing because they are worried that they won't fit "the mould" of what a rower should be - they are "too short", "too unfit", or "like sleeping too much", etc. These are common misconceptions that should definitely NOT stop you from trying rowing! Whilst it is true that elite rowers are usually of above-average height, are always extremely fit, and train at very early hours of the morning, this doesn't mean that everyone else can't participate in rowing and enjoy it at their own level! Rowing can be tailored to any height, level of fitness, or time of day. There are even boats made for adaptive rowers with varying physical disabilities that prevent them from rowing in a normal boat - so if they can overcome the obstacles and still row, then so can you!
(Geoff Abbott, Aquinas Bay Sunrise, February 2010)
Learning to row as a novice is some of the best fun you can have at a rowing club, because it tends to turn into a very tight-knit and friendly group. At first it may seem daunting if you don’t know anyone else, and there are a lot of “rowing-specific” terms and lingo that the coaches might use which you may not understand at first. However within a few weeks you will all start to get to know your fellow rowers - and coaches - a lot better, and as the season progresses you’ll start using rowing slang like a seasoned campaigner!
Your first few sessions may seem extremely frustrating, because of the steep learning curve required to get the hang of the technique and get a boat moving. There are literally tens of different terms, phrases and commands that you need to learn in order to follow the coaching instructions accurately, so it will initially sound like the coaches are speaking a foreign language. These will gradually assimilate into your vocabulary though, so be patient. You may see other rowers out on the water breezing along, going twice as fast as you... and that's just in their warm-up! Don't forget that they have been rowing for many more years than you and are now reaping the rewards of their persistence... if you stick with it, you will soon be able to row as seemingly effortlessly as they are! In fact, in your first season of rowing you will probably have the biggest relative gains in your rowing career - the learning curve is somewhat of a logarithmic curve, and as you row for longer your relative gains in speed will become smaller and smaller as you tweak your stroke closer to perfection and build your fitness towards your personal limits.
Many people are apprehensive about starting rowing because they are worried that they won't fit "the mould" of what a rower should be - they are "too short", "too unfit", or "like sleeping too much", etc. These are common misconceptions that should definitely NOT stop you from trying rowing! Whilst it is true that elite rowers are usually of above-average height, are always extremely fit, and train at very early hours of the morning, this doesn't mean that everyone else can't participate in rowing and enjoy it at their own level! Rowing can be tailored to any height, level of fitness, or time of day. There are even boats made for adaptive rowers with varying physical disabilities that prevent them from rowing in a normal boat - so if they can overcome the obstacles and still row, then so can you!